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Diablo III
Diablo III is the latest game in the Diablo series. After years of rumours, the game was officially announced on June 28, 2008 at 12.18 in the afternoon (CEST) at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris (WWI08), France. Plot Twenty years have passed since the destruction of the Worldstone. The world of Sanctuary was prepared for an invasion from the Burning Hells. However, the invasion never happened, prompting Deckard Cain to seek information as to why.2008-06-30, Kotaku. Lesley Smith. Accessed on 2008-02-07 Much of the story will be based around the Archangel Tyrael. Archangel Imperius is speculated to be present as well. It has been confirmed that at least one of the two remaining Lesser Evils, Azmodan and Belial is behind the failed invasion of Sanctuary. Classes As stated on the official site, there will be 5 different classes, the two confirmed ones being the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor. The Witch Doctor will be a new class. They can summon undead monsters, but without the need of dead bodies like the Necromancer. They appear to be a mixture of the Necromancer, the Druid and an alchemist, with some skills also reminiscent of the Warlock from World of Warcraft, such as Terrify and Mass Confusion. While these are old Necromancer skills, they seem to be a bit more potent now. The Barbarian makes a comeback from Diablo 2 as the straightforward brute-force fighter, with some new abilities as well. According to Blizzard, each character has a backstory which will be revealed during the course of the game. For example, the Barbarian is the same one who defeated the Prime Evils in Diablo 2 and the Lord of Destruction. Whether the female Barbarian has a similar story is unknown. But that may lead to inconsistencies in lore. Also as mentioned above, you will now be able to select gender regardless of the class you choose. Monsters The monsters shown thus far through the first game play trailer include: Beast, Dark Berserker, Dark Demon, Walking Corpse, Crawling Torso, Dark Vessel, Ghoul, Ghostly Orbs, Grotesque, Lamprey, Moon Clan Warrior, Moon Clan Shaman, Skeleton Archer, Scavenger, Skeleton, Skeletal Shieldman, Skeletal Summoner, Wretched Dead, Wraith, Wood Wraith, and Zombie. Two unique monsters were shown as well, Thousand Pounder and Siegebreaker Assault Beast. Avatars Gameplay Changes The entire quest system has been revamped. Along with the main storyline quests, there will be character specific quests as well as random adventures - mini quests generated randomly on the map. The player can explore almost the entirety of Sanctuary. The outdoor environment has been left unspoiled for 20 years and looks more like a fantasy setting. The dungeons are still randomized but the random map generator has undergone an overhaul. The game now incorporates the Havok physics engine and enables players to utilize the environment to help in their quest. For example, huge walls can be reduced to rubble to squash monsters by the Barbarian skill Seismic Slam. Even monsters use the environment which was demonstrated by Ghouls scaling the walls to reach the Barbarian. Potions have lesser importance because of globes. Whenever a monster is killed, a life or mana globe is left behind. If a player picks it up, it acts like the generic Health and Mana Potions. If there are other players nearby, it replenishes them too. In co-operative play, loot is dropped for individual players. So, one player cannot see what the other gets. This was done to encourage trading between players in a group and reducing thievery. Similar to the characters, the NPCs are also more lively and will have interesting backstories. The gameplay video showed the Barbarian communicating to Deckard Cain in a new interface. The player characters have also been given more interactivity and are able to choose conversation options while conversing with NPCs. The characters have unique voices and will reveal their own backstory in conversation. Armor Blizzard has stated that there will be no customization of characters outside of choosing your gender. However, the Diablo series is known more for its custom avatar looks through countless different pieces of armor. The first gameplay trailer has shown that they have kept all the old armor slots: * Helmet * Body Armor * Gloves * Boots * Belts * Amulet * 2 Rings * 2 Weapons It also shows that they have added a slot for shoulder wear and for pants. It has also been stated that all of the parts will have an impact on the visuals of the character, meaning that not only armor, helmets and weapons will make up your character's appearance. This is an improvement from Diablo II. Trivia *A petition was created by players to force Blizzard Entertainment to change their art direction for the game. While the petition has more than 50,000 unique signatures, at the time of writing this, Blizzard has said that they will not change the art direction no matter how many signatures the petition garners. This petition has spawned several others that want the art direction to stay the same, thus causing a rift between Diablo fans. *The game spent 4-5 years in development before being officially announced. *The development team consists of around 60-65 individuals.WWI: D3 Game Design Panel. Accessed on 2008-07-07 References *Gamasultra - In Depth: Blizzard’s Boyarsky On Diablo III's Multiplayer Storytelling External Links *Official Website *Diablo III Wiki Category: Games Category: Diablo III